Nalukettu Family Cafe, Kamanahalli, Bangalore

Nalukettu has been on my list of restaurants to dine at for a while now. Finally got a chance to go here. Although i was excited to have finally got a chance to go here, this place definitely has it pros and cons. A little fine tuning and this place could get a 4.5 rating.

                     

From the outside this place isn't to fancy. Looks like any other restaurant. 

             

From the inside this place is simply amazing.

                  

In other words it's like a museum. They have antiques all over the place. They even sent earthen pots and teak wood barrels which are pretty impressive. If you a big fan of Costa's bebinca and had no idea where to get it. Look no further, they have that as well.


Coming to the food. I wouldn't say its the best that I've had, but it did bring back childhood memories. We ordered for the fish mango curry and the prawn mango curry, a fried fish which was pretty big, beef roast and parothas and appam.

                           

The mango curry was amazing. I remember having it when I was a kid and it definitely brought back a lot of memories for me. 

        

The fried fish was over cooked because of which the crust has turned hard and didn't take very good. I'm not sure if it was stale or if they had over fried it, but I was definitely not happy with the fish.

The beef roast was awesome. The meat was soft, and had an awesome taste which was very distinct. There was everything right about this dish so much so that we ended up ordering another round of it.

The great part about this place is they also service rabbit, Turkey and duck.
The service is simply simply pathetic. They really need to improve the service. There were 4 people standing and we kept calling but no one bothered to come for at least 3 mins. This is something that they definitely need to improve on because of which the next time I rather take a parcel then a dine in.
One good thing about this place is it is just a 2 minute walk from my place, so next time I feel like having the mango curry, I just got to walk and pick it up. I would definitely recommended for the mango curry. 

                                   Check out BYLI's menu on Zomato by clicking on the image below

BYLI, Kalyan Nagar, Bangalore

BYLI has been on my list of places to visit for quite a while now. Though I visited BYLI last month, my review was pending because I wanted to write about this place after having breakfast as well as Lunch or Dinner here. I finally got a chance to do both, so here is my review of this awesome place.

BYLI isn't one of those places where you would just visit once. You will keep visiting this place over and over again. They have the whole package. Great ambiance, good music, a friendly staff and amazing food. 

Breakfast at BYLI looks utterly, butterly and delicious and a little jam to add to that. We ordered for HRBR Chicken Omelette, Egg Benedict and Iced Chocolate.

The HRBR Chicken Omelette was something else. This omelette was one of the best omelettes that I have ever eaten and I'm not just saying that, it actually was. It has small pieces of chicken on it and topped with mozzarella cheese that was perfectly melted over the omelette and served with 2 slices of toast. If any one who loves cheese wants a foodgasm, this omelette can definitely get you there.

The Egg Benedict wasn't really my thing. I thought that I would like it after reading the description on the menu, but my taste buds didn't seem to like it. Never-the-less, doesn't mean that it isn't good. There were 2 dinner rolls topped with chicken ham and eggs. The dinner rolls were extremely fresh and the chicken ham was cooked really well. I would recommend this to some one who would love to have their eggs on a dinner roll.

The iced chocolate wasn't really iced chocolate, it was an over load of chocolate and ice. In the image the glass looks small, but don't be deceived. The iced chocolate comes in a huge glass and is super tasty. I would definitely recommend this with breakfast if you are looking to have something cold and not hot. It's also quite filling.

After the breakfast, exactly a month later, we headed to BYLI for dinner. We have passed this place many times, and have seen the crowded on the weekends so decided to go there a little early. We reached BYLI at 8 and it was quite empty, though kept filling up while we were there. In case you plan to go for dinner, go early to get place immediately.  We weren't to hungry so we ordered for a Warm Chicken Salad and a Co Pollo Pasta in Penne.

Up until now, BYLI's was a very affordable place with great quantities and spectacular prices, though the salad was a bit of a disappointment because I would have expected a little more than what was given for the price. Taste wise it was pretty good, it wasn't a dry salad, it veggies were nice and wet and the chicken  had a great taste to it. I would have been a little more excited about it if the quantity was a little more.

The Co Pollo pasta was dosed in white sauce. In the pic the pasta also seems to be a little less in quantity but it was anything but that. The plate was deep and the quantity was quite a lot, enough to fill some one who is decently hungry. The taste was great, the penne was cooked perfectly, the white sauce tasted amazing along with the mushrooms and the chicken. I would definitely recommend this to anyone visiting BYLI.

All in all BYLI is a great place to visit. Great food, great music and great service. I would highly recommend this place to any one living in and around Kalyan Nagar or is looking to have a good meal.

                          Check out BYLI's menu on Zomato by clicking on the image below

Carnival de Goa, Ulsoor, Bangalore

This is my second visit to Carnival de Goa. My first visit was very good and hence decided to visit again. We went here on a Sunday night. The restaurant is located very close to Ulsoor lake on the first floor of a building. The ambiance of the please is pretty good, they play good music and the people serving you are very polite and helpful. 

We decided to have an early dinner and reached the restaurant at 8.15pm. It wasn't to full. As soon as we sat down, we placed out order.

We started off ordering for a couple of beers, a mango bloom (which was pretty good), Goan sausage chilly fry, chilly beef and red snapper in rechad masala

The first dish that arrived  on the table was the Goan sausage chilly fry. Most of us have Sausage beads at home because someone went to Goa at sometime and brought them. But they were nothing compared to the ones that Carnival de Goa had to offer. Taste wise, Carnival de Goa are the best sausages that I have tasted outside Goa. The disappoint though was that there was quite a lot of fat.

One of the things that I love about Bangalore is the beef. The beef out here is very different compared to the beef that you get in Maharashtra. Out here it is much more tender and CdG gave tender beef along with great taste. Definitely something worth eating again and again and again. It's every where that you get such great beef.

Being a big fish lover, seeing the fish in rechad masala just made my mouth water. The rechad masala had a very good mix of spicyness and tangyness. But the disappointment was the fish. I'm not sure why, but the other layer of the fish was very hard. It was very difficult to chew. It was a real disappoint that something so tasty, was so difficult to eat. I would highly recommend the rechad masala, though make sure that the fish is cooked properly.

Once we got done with our starters, we didn't have to much place for main course so we just ordered for Goan style prawn curry with rice and sannas.

Just like the previous time I visited, their prawn curry was great. I love my rice completely soaked in my rice, and they gave a lot of curry to be able to do that. Though I would suggest to put a little more prawns in the curry if possible. I'm going there again for the prawn curry for sure.

They had a great offer where they were giving away 20% on the food bill on Sunday.

Tip: If you planning to go on a chilly night, make sure to wear something warm. Chances are you won't get place to sit inside and will have to sit outside

                    Check out Carnival de Goa's menu on Zomato by clicking on the image below

The Egg Factory, St. Marks Road, Bangalore

Heard a lot about this place and I've been planning to go here from a long time now but it never worked out. I finally got a chance to go to The Egg Factory and for all the reviews that I read and heard about this place, they lived up to each and every one of them.

We reached The Egg Factory at around 10.30 and the place was packed. We had to wait out for more than half an hour before we got a table. It was a little hard to find. We shot past the entrance and didn't even notice it as its in a small lane that slopes down to a building where The Egg Factory is located.

We finally got a table. The menu is like a user's manual of an electronic device. But everything is explained really well in the menu. This place had a great vibe to it and they were playing some really good music.

Around 5 minutes after we got to our table, the waiter came to take our order. We ordered for The Ultimate Veggie Omelette with brown bread, The Broccoli & Mushroom Omelette with brown bread, The Pink Lady Smoothie, The Spicy Chicken & Egg Sub and a Filter Coffee.

The Ultimate Veggie Omelette was an Omelette with sauteed green peppers, mushrooms, onion, tomatoes and cheddar cheese. The omelette is served with 2 slices of bread (brown or white) and butter. When the omelette was brought to the table, they brought it with white bread when we ordered for brown. It took some time for them to change it, by then the omelette had got a little cold. For me, the omelette was a little bland. The highlight of the omelette was the cheddar cheese that made gave it its taste. Never the less, the omelette was perfectly cooked.

The Broccoli & Mushroom Omelette was an omelette stuffed with broccoli and mushroom, unlike the ultimate veggie where the veggies were mixed with the egg, this one was stuffed into the egg. The stuffing of broccoli and mushroom was just "eggcellent". The flavors of broccoli and mushroom were very strong and it gave the omelette a great taste. I would highly recommend The Broccoli & Mushroom Omelette.

When I first tasted The Pink Lady, I was a bit disappointed because all I could taste was banana, but as I took every sip, the taste of cherries started to kick in and every sip had almonds in them. This then became a perfect blend of bananas and cherries along with pieces of almonds. I will definitely have this again the next time i visit The Egg Factory.

For me, the highlight of the morning was, The Spicy Chicken & Egg Sub. When the waiter brought it to the table, the back of the sub was facing me and I could not see the stuffing that was filled inside it. I finally turned it around and the stuffing was flowing out of the sub. It was almost as though there was no place between the slices of bread. This sub was amazing. It was just the right amount of spice, chicken and egg. I thoroughly enjoyed eating this sub and was completely stuffed once I was done eating this.

The Filter Coffee at The Egg Factory was like any other filter coffee that I have tasted in Bangalore. I cannot complain about any filter coffee because filter coffee in itself is just amazing.

This place is a little expensive for the quantity but for me it was totally worth it and I will definitely be visiting again to try out something else.

Check out The Egg Factory's menu on Zomato by clicking on the image below

Mangrove, Kalyan Nagar, Bangalore

From the outside Mangrove looks like a small cafe with a wooden door to enter. When you enter, it seems like a small cozy place with all the desserts on the left of you. Then you realise it is really big because they have tables on the first floor as well.

Mangrove serves alcohol, but only Fosters beer and wine. There's this big stairway leading up to the first floor. We decided to sit on the first floor. Along with a few tables, the bar was also on the first floor. The ambience in Mangrove is good and so is the music.

We were recommended the beef stir fry as it was one of the specials of the day. Along with that we ordered chicken nachos and cheese garlic bread and a pitcher of Foster's.

The beef stir fry was small pieces of beef stir fried along with crunchy vegetables and tossed in this amazingly tasting soya sauce. It was a treat to our taste buds. The beef was fried just to right amount to be crunchy and soft enough to chew. We all loved the beef stir fry and decided to order another portion of it! I would highly recommend it.

The chicken nachos were good. I wouldn't say the best but they were good. Nacho chips topped with baked beans, olives, jalapeños and some veggies with smoked chicken and hung curd accompanied with salsa sauce. I wouldn't say these were the best nachos that I've had, but they were pretty damn good. The nachos were fried. A little bit of a disappointment to me because I assumed they would be baked. The sauce that was added to the beans was very tasty. The highlight of the nachos was the smoked chicken that was just amazing.

The garlic bread was nice and cheesy and the sauce given with it was great. The were 4 big pieces of garlic bread in one portion.

For main course, we ordered Alfredo Chicken Pasta with Penne and the Jerk Chicken Sizzler. Until this point the service at Mangrove was good because there weren't many people there. The main course took a good 25 minutes to come because the place got quite crowded by then.

The Alfredo Chicken Pasta was really good. It was nice and creamy and cheesy. There were some herbs that they used in the pasta which made it taste just amazing. They did recommend that we should have it in Spaghetti which we didn't do. I would recommend it in Spaghetti because it would have soaked up the creamy sauce really well.

The Jerk Chicken Sizzler came with sautéed veggies, French fries and 2 chicken legs with jerk chicken sauce. The veggies were very well sautéed and very tasted. The fries were a little cold. I'm sure they were pre cooked and kept ready. The jerk chicken sauce was amazing. Tangy, a little spicy and the chicken was cooked very well. They normally serve it with herb rice or mashed potatoes but since we didn't want either, we asked them to give us more of the veggies.

All in all Mangrove for us was a good experience and I would definitely visit again.

I used the Crown It App to get cashback on my bill. Don't forget to give it a try. Check it out on https://crownit.in

One thing that I would want to talk about is the sizzler's in Bangalore. It is very disappointing to know the quantity of the sizzler's out here. The sizzler's in Mumbai are much tastier and the sizzler pans are stacked and filled much much more than the ones out here. I am yet to taste a sizzler like the ones in Mumbai. I have been recommended a few places, will be going to try them out soon. I am open to suggestions about sizzler places in Bangalore. Do write in the comments section.

Check out Mangrove's menu on Zomato by clicking on the image below

Toit

These guys have been sending it since 2010!

When I moved to Bangalore, the first micro brewery that I was recommended to visit was Toit. 2 and a half months later, I finally visited Toit. Toit did not live up to my expectations, they over exceeded them! There is absolutely nothing that I hate about this place. The food, the ambience, the music and of course the beers are all top notch. Heard that this place is always crowded, so we decided to leave early and get there early. That was a very wise decision as we got a table on the first floor as soon as we reached Toit. I've passed Toit quite a few times and never once did I imagine it to be what it was when I entered. We finally sat down and the ordering began.

                

We started off ordering drinks which included TinTin, Watermelon Mojito & Margrita. I read a lot of reviews about the TinTin so decided to try that out at Toit and it did not disappoint me. I loved the flavor and it was very smooth. The watermelon mojito was loaded with alcohol, it was a little on the sweeter side but I'm not complaining. I'm not into Margarita's so not going to comment on that. We also ordered for a blueberry lemonade which was really really good. It was very different to anything that I've had before and it was also very refreshing.

            

                                          


Once we were done ordering the drinks, we decided to order some starters. We ordered the Toit Baked Chicken Nacho's, Fried Calamari and Beefy Loaded Potato.

The Toit Baked Chicken Nacho's were amazing. The nachos were nice and crisp, the cheese that was poured on top of the nachos had a great taste to it and the chicken had a very nice flavor to it as well. I would definitely recommend the nacho's to anyone going to Toit.

Calamari is one of my favorites cause of which I have tried calamari from loads of places and I can honestly and truly say that Toit Fried Calamari is the best damn calamari that I have ever had. These guys serve you huge chunks of squid batter fried to perfection. The squid was very fresh. This was served with 2 sauces out of which the tartar sauce was heaven. I'm going to Toit again just to have the Calamari with a glass of TinTin.

I'm not sure how these guys did it but the potatoes were baked to perfection. The skin of the potatoes were nice and crisp and the potato was not to soft and not to hard, it was just perfect. The beef that was put on those of the potato would definitely give you a foodgasm. The beef was nice and tangy and perfectly cooked. The sauce that was given along with this was some sort of peanut sauce which also tasted good but I chose to eat that with the nachos and eat the beefy loaded potato plain because they were so damn good.

After I got done with my TinTin and watermelon mojito, I decided to try their dark knight. At this point I was a happy high and I thoroughly enjoyed the bitter taste that the dark knight had to offer. 

Our last and final order of the day was the apple pie. We enjoyed the apple pie but what we enjoyed more was the Vanilla Ice Cream that came along with the apple pie so we decided to order just the Vanilla Ice Cream. They got us 2 small scoops.

We were finally done eating and drinking at Toit and it was time for the bill. I kid you not, this place is very easy on the pocket. The food is very reasonably priced and so is the alcohol. 

I finally got what all the hype was about and I am definitely going to be a regular customer of Toit, not just for the beers but for the food as well!

                      Check out Toit's menu on Zomato by clicking on the image below